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Let’s thrash it!

Soviet Propaganda posters emerged in full force following the October Revolution. These posters were used to stir optimism towards the new regime and attack opponents of the new government. With only a few newspapers incorporated into Soviet Society, such as Pravda and Izvestia, the government was left in direct control of information (a form of propaganda). When Stalin came to power, the focus of propaganda posters switched to political discipline and accomplishing government programs, such as Stalin’s Five Year Plans. Propaganda, therefore, shifted to doing things that would benefit the State, and make the USSR a dominant global power. In addition, several of these colorful and nationalistic posters were used to mold productive Bolsheviks, such as the image attached, focused on attacking alcoholism.

This poster, titled “Let’s thrash it!” emerged in 1930. It was created by Viktor Nikolaevich Denisov (1893-1946), a Russian satirist, cartoonist, and poster artist for the Soviet Union. This poster was used in the first half of the century in order to improve social and cultural elements of the country in regards to alcohol use. The man represents the proletariat, the driving force of industry and productivity in the USSR, and is smashing the alcohol bottle with his hammer which has the words “Cultural Revolution” inscribed upon it. The man and his hammer are the color red symbolizing the power of the USSR and the red state of communism. Hammers and sickles are the symbolic tools of the Soviet Union and play a role in almost all Soviet propaganda posters at this time. In the background is the booming industry that the Soviet Union is hoping to increase. At the bottom of the poster is a poem which translates into:

You, there, don’t trifle with booze,

D’rather thrash it,

Culturally, Roughly,

Powerfully, wrathfully,

Smash daily,

At your every step,

Give no rest to the enemy.

This poem directly addresses the reader, commanding them to stay away from alcohol and to directly destroy it if you have the opportunity, perhaps symbolically by refusing to buy it or literally destroying it. The poster is also making an “us versus them” statement by labeling the alcohol an enemy of culture. This poster most likely has other intentions too. As a country focused on catching up to Germany and the United States in regards to industry, the Soviet Union was attempting to do whatever it could to increase productivity in factories. Soviet rationale was that less alcohol would make way for a more productive proletariat, the blood of the Soviet Union.

The goal of this poster is not necessarily bad. Alcohol is potentially a dangerous substance that can rob someone of their job, social life, and more, however, this poster shows that the Soviet Union had other intentions than just increasing temperance. This poster attempts to manipulate its viewers in order to increase productivity. The well-being of Soviet citizens is merely a step in the process of achieving massive industrial production, and to turn the USSR into a thriving global power. As mentioned in Brandenberger’s text, Soviet propaganda before the mid 1930s focused on making sacrifices for the state. Giving up alcohol was something that a true Bolshevik or Muscovite would gladly do if it meant bettering himself but especially the state.